This invention relates to a container for holding a stack of articles.
The invention has application, for example, to a depository apparatus included in an automated teller machine (ATM) of the kind which is arranged to dispense currency notes, or accept a deposit of money, as may be required by a customer. As is well known, in operation of an ATM of this kind, a user inserts a customer identifying card into the machine and then enters certain data (such as a personal identification number, type of transaction, and quantity of money required or to be paid in) on one or more keyboards included in a user console of the machine. The machine will then process the transaction, dispense currency notes or accept a money deposit as may be requested, and return the card to the user as part of a routine operation. If money is to be deposited, the user typically inserts an envelope containing the money (cash and/or checks) through a deposit entry slot in the user console, and the depository apparatus of the ATM transports the envelope to, and deposits it in, a portable container included in the apparatus.
In some known types of depository apparatus, envelopes are simply dropped one by one by a transport mechanism into a portable container. Such an apparatus has the disadvantage that envelopes are deposited in a non-orderly manner in the container, thereby reducing the storage capacity of the container and hindering checking and reconciliation procedures when the envelopes are removed from the container.
A depository apparatus in which envelopes are stacked in an orderly sequential manner in a container is know from U.S. Pat. No. 4,512,263. In operation of this known apparatus, each envelope to be stacked is fed under gravity into a receiving zone which is separated from a storage zone by gate means arranged to permit one-way passage of the envelope from the receiving zone into the storage zone. When in the receiving zone, each envelope is supported by one of its edges in a vertical position, and pusher means are provided for pushing the envelope past the gate means into the storage zone against the pressure of a vertical stacker plate which is positioned in the storage zone and which is resiliently biased towards the gate means. The stacker plate forms part of a stacker plate assembly incorporating a tension spring which passes around a pulley positioned adjacent the gate means and the ends of which are respectively attached to the stacker plate and to a stud secured to a part of the container remote from the gate means. No means is described as to how a stack of envelopes may be removed from the container, but in any case the incorporation in the container of the stacker plate assembly described above would present problems regarding such removal.